Brooks Saddles

[The History Man]

I have a 12 month old B17 in black and a 62 year old B17 in brown. Both comfy now. A little neetsfoot oil on the underside helped. But not too much or it stretches too far. Both good for 4 hours plus. But I find a charge spoon similarly so.

 

[rc200ti]

With a long ride looming I bought a B17 off ebay for £30, still plenty of thread left on the tensioner. Treated it to lots of Dubbin, and wore it to my shape over about 2 months prior to an epic 13 hours in the saddle ride (mainly road ). I now find myself using it whenever there are long rides, both on and off road. I love it. After three hours on a Charge Spoon I'm wanting the Brooks.
My wife recently borrowed a bike with a newish B17 and after four or five training rides managed a 75 miler with no complaints about the saddle, which is remarkable. I'm in the process of putting together a bike for her and the only stipulation is that it has a Brooks ladies version of the B17.

 

[drystonepaul]

Re:

I have a couple of B17 saddles, one was new about 4 years ago and the other is dated 1975. The old one was really comfortable as soon as I got it, the new one took a year or so to get comfortable.
Plenty of Brooks 'Proofide' applied to the surface and underside to soften the leather.
Now it's good for up to 16 hour days in the saddle when I get the chance to get away for a bit of cycle touring.

One thing I have found is that there is quite a small 'sweet spot' that you have to sit on with these saddles. The fore and aft adjustment is quite critical to get the best out of them in my experience. Once all set up they are great.

The main benefit I find due to the minimal amount of saddle material you are actually sitting on. Even the hardest saddles have padding which does nothing to keep your undercarriage cool. On a Brooks saddle you sit on a few millimetres of leather, which also has ventilation holes cut into it. Preventing heat build up and keeping things ventilated is a very good way of preventing saddle sores.

There is nothing worse than a big deep padded gel saddle in that respect.

 

[Thias]

Your were asking for pics.

This is the first brooks I ever had. Got it in a rather bad shape:

A bit of cleaning, hot water and straightening


After:


Not the best looking saddle. But it is still very usable. And it reduces the probability of your bike getting stolen.



Well, I guess nobody would steal that kind if bike anyhow.

About the ride, I like the fact that it smoothes out the little bumps with its springs. But it has that little - how to call it? - elevation right in the middle of the seating surface that I am not comfortable with. I was hoping that it would eventually bend downwards after some time of using. I've had maybe 200km on that saddle now, but no signs of bending yet

 

[xerxes]

Re:

I've got two leather saddles, a Brooks B17 Imperial Narrow, the one with a hole in the middle, and a Spa Cycles Aire.

I like both, but given the price difference, I'm very impressed with the Spa Cycles saddle, I'd say that the quality is up there with the Brooks. Spa do several different models, well worth checking out: http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s204p0

 

[ibbz]

How about weight wise? Are they really heavy?
And that Spa Cycles leather saddle? looks good - looked at their website - how's your one xerxes? Is it Chinese made?
Any alternatives?

 

[xerxes]

Re:

How about weight wise? Are they really heavy?
And that Spa Cycles leather saddle? looks good - looked at their website - how's your one xerxes? Is it Chinese made?
Any alternatives?

If you look the weights are listed, but yes, compared to plastic saddles, which can be less than 200g, they are heavy, typically around 500g or more. If weight is really important, forget about leather saddles.

I believe the Spa Cycles saddles are made in China, I'm not certain though, I've seen them sold elsewhere under different brand names as well, Velo Orange for example: http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/ ... ddles.html

As for alternatives there are also Gilles Berthoud, sold at Spa Cycles.